Pushbutton safety belt buckle



Oct. 13, 1970 KEIZEN UNAI 3,533,141

PUSHBUTTON SAFETY BELT BUCKLE Filed 001'.- 7, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1ENVENTOR. KE/ZEN (IA/Al I Arromvsns.

Oct. 13, 1970 KEIZEN UNAI PUSHBUTTON SAFETY BELT BUCKLE Filed Oct. 7,1968 2 Sheets-Sheet .2

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Aframvem- United States Patent O 3,533,141 PUSHBUTTON SAFETY BELT BUCKLEKeizen Unai, Osaka, Japan, assignor to Ashimori Industry Co., Ltd.,Osaka, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Oct. 7, 1968, Ser. No.765,296 Int. Cl. A4411 11/26 US. Cl. 24-430 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A safety belt buckle comprising a housing formed with atongue-receiving passage having a turned back lip defining the bottomside of the entrance to said passage. An elongated clasp is disposed inthe passage and is formed with a lug having its rear-end abutting theforwardlyturned lip and its forward end defining a stop. The front endof the clasp is biased upwardly whereby when a tongue having a windowtherein is inserted in the passage registering such window with the lug,the stop will hold the tongue captive in the housing. When the tongue isso coupled to the clasp, the lug extends substantially horizontallyforward from the lip whereby separation forces acting rearwardly on thetongue will have a relative short vertical moment arm to resist downwardpivoting of the slasp about the turned-back lip.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present inventionrelates generally to safety belt buckles which may be utilized inautomobiles, aircraft and trains and more particularly to safety beltbuckles including a pushbutton release.

Description of prior art Pushbutton released safety belt buckles havebeen proposed which include elongated clasps that angle upwardly andinwardly from the open end of the tonguereceiving passage to registerwith a stop included on the connecting tongue, but such buckles sufferthe disadvantage that any forces applied to the tongue act through arelatively long moment arm to resist downward pivoting of the clasp todisengage the tongue thereby making it difficult for a passenger tounfasten his belt. There are no prior art safety belt buckles known toapplicant which include a pivotal clasp that lies substantially parallelto the tongue whereby separation forces acting on the tongue will actthrough a relatively short moment arm.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The safety belt buckle of present invention ischaracterized by a buckle housing formed with a tonguereceiving passagehaving a turned-back lip adjacent the lower side of the entrance to saidpassage. An elongated clasp includes a lug which abuts such lip on itsrearward end and forms a stop on its forward end; the lug beingmaintained substantially horizontal when the tongue is inserted wherebyseparation forces acting on such tongue will act through a relativelyshort vertical moment arm to offer comparatively small resistance todownward pivoting of the forward end of the clasp during disengagementof the tongue.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparentfrom a consideration of the following description when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a persepctive view of a safetybelt buckle embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view, in enlarged scale, of the safety belt buckle shownin FIG. 1 with the cover removed therefrom;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view, in enlarged scale, taken along theline 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the tongue removedfrom the buckle housing;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view, in reduced scale, taken along theline 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG. 3 but showing thetongue removed from the buckle housing;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the safety belt buckle shownin FIG. 1 and FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the buckle clasp includedin the safety belt buckle shown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, thepreferred embodiment of the pushbutton safety belt buckle of presentinvention includes a buckle housing, generally designated 11, formedwith a tongue-receiving passage 12 having a forwardly-turned lip 13abutted by the rearward end 15 of a lug 17 formed by a pivotal clasp,generally designated 19. The forward end of the lug 17 defines a stop 21which registers in a window 23 formed by a flat tongue, generallydesignated 25, whereby such lug, in the tongue engaging position, liessubstantially horizontally to provide a relatively short vertical momentarm for forces acting rearwardly on the tongue and resisting unlatchingof the clasp.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 7, the housing 11 is formed with a pair ofoppositely disposed upstanding side walls 31 and 33 which are turnedinwardly on their respective upper extremities to form opposed retainingflanges 35 and 37. The flanges 35 and 37 are formed at their rearwardend with a pair of inwardly projecting holding tabs 41 and 43 and areformed at their forward ends with upwardly angled holding tabs 45 and47. Such flanges 35 and 37 are further formed with intermediate,inwardly projecting, supporting flanges 51 and 53, respectively, thepurpose of which will appear herebelow. The bottom wall of the housing11 includes a cut-out 55 for passage of the connecting belt 54 (FIG. 1).The clasp 19 is formed at its rear extremity with outwardly andreadwardly projecting feet 57 and 59' which fit underneath the retaininglip 13. The front extremity of the clasp 19 is biased upwardly by aspring, generally designated 61, and includes an upwardly turned buttonengaged portion 62 and is formed with a pair of transversely spaced baseportions 63 and 65 and a central portion 67 which pushes upwardly on thefront of the clasp 19.

A support, generally designated 71, includes rearwardly projectingflanges 73 and 75 which are received beneath the retaining lip 13 andhas an upstanding front wall 77 including outwardly projecting tabs 79and 81 which are engaged beneath the intermediate tabs 51 and 53,respectively, included in the housing 11. The support 71 also includes apair of side-by-side raised stops 83 and 85 disposed outwardly of thelugs 17 to prevent downward pivoting of the tongue 25. An ejectionspring 87 includes a retaining portion extending transversely across thefront of the support 71 and retained by a pair of rearwardly bent tabs89. The spring 87 also forms a coil 91 held under the flange 37,projects transversely across the passage 23, and is formed on its freeextremity with a vertical loop 93 normally disposed rearwardly andcentrally in the passage 12 for engagement by the front edge 95 of thetongue 25 whereby such tongue, when it is released, will be forcefullyejected from the passage 12.

A cover, generally designated 101, is formed at its rear extremity witha turned-back lip 103 which hooks beneath the holding tabs 47, such lipfurther including a pair of forwardly and upwardly projecting tabs 105,the purpose of which wall be set forth hereinafter. The front extremityof the cover 101 is turned downwardly to cover the front of the housing11 and includes a pair of opposed notches 109 which receive the holdingtabs 41 and 43 whereby the lip 103 may be connected under the tabs 47and 49 and the front end of the cover 101 snapped into position toregister the holding tabs 4 1 and 43 with the respective notches 109 and111. The center of the cover 101 is formed with a window 113 having apushbutton, generally designated 115, disposed thereunder. Referring toFIG. 7, the rear extremity of the pushbutton 115 includes a pair ofrearwardly projecting legs 117 and 119 which turn inwardly to formprongs 121 and 123, respectively, held behind the holding tabs 105 toconnect such button 115 pivotally to the cover 101. The portion of thebutton 115 disposed beneath the window 113 includes an insignia plate125 thereon which may bear insignia of any selection.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, a formed sliding bar 135 is received in therear end of the housing 11, is formed with a transverse cavity forreceiving a rod forming a roller 136 and includes a pair of forwardlyprojecting feet 137 and 139 which engage a tightener, generallydesignated 141. The tightener 141 is formed on its opposite extremitieswith a pair of rearwardly projecting prongs 143 and 145 which arereceived in passages formed between opposite sides of the support 71 andthe opposite housing walls 31 and 33. A slightly V-shaped leaf spring147 is secured to the tightener 141 and engages with the front wall 77of the support 71 (FIG. 3) to maintain the tightener pushed forwardlyand the slide bar likewise pushed forwardly of the forward side of thecut-out 55 whereby the belt 54 projecting through such cut-out will beheld tightly.

The tongue 25 is formed on its rear extremity with a transverse slot 153which receives downwardly extending and outwardly turned cleats 155(FIG. 3) included on opposite ends of a housing 157 which grips a slidebar 159 having a Teflon slider element 161 disposed thereunder forproviding relatively free movement of the slide bar 159 across the faceof the slot 153.

In operation, the belt buckle of present invention may be utilized tosecure adjacent ends of two pieces of belt webbing 54 and 171 togetherto retain an automobile passenger in his seat in case of collision. Thebelt webbing 54 is threaded through the window 55 in the bottom of thehousing 11 and wrapped around the slider bar 135 and fed back out thewindow 55. Likewise, the belt webbing 171 is extended through the window153 in the tongue 25, wrapped around the slider bar 159 and returnedback out the window 153. The tongue 25 and housing 11 are then mated byinsertion of the tongue in the passage 12 sufiiciently for the lugs 17to register with the windows 23 to restrict withdrawal of such tongue.The marginal edges of the tongue 25 slide under the inwardly turnedflanges 35 and 37 of the housing 11 to maintain such tongue horizontaland the spring 61 biases the clasp 19 and tongue upwardly to preventrelative movement and unpleasant rattling with vehicle vibrations. Theclasp 19 is thus held in a substantially horizontal position wherebyforces exerted on the belt webbing 171 will act rearwardly on the stop21 formed by the front of the lug 17 tending to pivot the clasp aboutthe rear extremity 15 of the lug 17 but since the moment arm defined bythe vertical distance between the front and rear of the lug 17 isrelatively short, such separation forces will offer only slightresistance to downward pivoting of the forward end of the clasp 19.Accordingly, the passenger can merely insert his finger or thumb throughthe window 113 to engage the button 115, pressing the forward extremitythereof down against the upwardly turned portion 62 of the clasp 19 topress such forward extremity downwardly. Downward movement of the tongue25 is limited by the stops 83 and whereby such lowering of the forwardextremity of the clasp 19 will lower the forward extremity of the lugs17 relative to the windows 23 thus freeing the tongue 25 fordisengagement from the housing 11. When the tongue 25 is so freed, theprojecting extremity 93 of the spring 87 will propel the tongue 25rearwardly in the passage 12 to eject it rapidly.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the safety belt bucklye ofpresent invention is straight-forward in design and economical tomanufacture. The clasp securely and rigidly retains the tongue latchedin the housing and is pivotable to its unlatching position with relativeease irrespective of separation forces acting on the belt, thus enablinga passenger to rapidly and conveniently unlatch the buckle. This may beof particular importance where an automobile has overturned and theentire weight of the passenger is supported on the safety belt.

Various modifications and changes may be made with regard to theforegoing detailed description without departing from the spirit of theinvention or the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

1. A safety belt buckle comprising:

a housing formed with an open-ended tongue-receiving passage having anupper wall portion defined by a pair of opposed lips extending alongopposite sides of said passage, said lips supporting an upper wallhaving a window, and including a forwardly-facing lip defined by thewall forming the bottom side of the open end of said passage;

an elongated clasp in said passage and formed with a lug having its rearedge pivotally abutting said forwardly-facing lip edge and its forwardend defining a stop;

first spring means urging the front extremity of said clasp upwardly;

a tongue for insertion in said passage and formed with window means forreceiving said lug with the front edge of said window means abuttingsaid stop;

a support disposed in said housing and aligned with said lug when saidclasp is in its release position to limit downward movement of saidtongue;

second spring means mounted in said housing to engage the front of saidtongue and urge said tongue rearwardly in said passage to eject saidtongue when said tongue is released from said clasp; and

a separate push button carried by said housing below said windowpivotally abutting the rear end of said cover and engageable with saidclasp for pushing the front end of said clasp downward to pivot saidclasp about said lip edge to move the rear edge of said window meansclear of said stop and free said tongue to be unfastened from saidhousing, whereby said tongue may be inserted in said passage to registersaid window with said lug and will be held downwardly against said claspby said wall portion to maintain said clasp substantially horizontal soforces acting rearwardly of said tongue and creating a couple resistingdownward pivoting of the front of said clasp 3,378,895 4/1968 Eberhart.will have a relatively short vertical moment arm not 3,449,800 6/ 1969Fisher. substantially greater than the height of said tongue. FOREIGNPATENTS References Cited 5 818,988 8/ 1959 Great Britain. UNITED STATESPATENTS BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner 3,331,108 7/1967 Fisher.3,353,234 11/1967 Settimi. US. Cl. XR.

3,375,558 4/1968 Wright. 2477,196

